Weddingbee Blog

And by “two in one,” I mean two wedding-related activities in one day. This was big for me.

My dad called me one afternoon and said he heard on the radio that a casino in our area was hosting a bridal show. Now, to the best of knowledge, the Durango area only has one bridal show a year, and I had missed what I thought was my only opportunity to attend it because I was in Mexico drinking margaritas and lounging in the sun…but I’m not complaining. I marked it on my calendar and made plans with Mama Honey to attend. We also decided we would make a trek across the state line to the nearest Hobby Lobby.

Guess what else is across the state line? An awesome bridal boutique called Silk Bridal. I decided to make an appointment, but I was insanely nervous; my voice was a little shaky and for some reason I was very intimidated to make the call. I pulled it together and dialed the salon. When I asked the consultant what times were available for the day I would be in her area, she kind of laughed at me. Not a mean laugh…no, a laugh that was preceded by this statement: “We are having an Allure Bridal trunk show that day!” She then said, “Girl, I have got to get you in. Let me move around some appointments. There we go, you are in at 12:45.” Wow, and just like that I had an appointment.

Saturday rolled around and we attended the bridal show…which was a waste of our time…and then we headed to the Land of Enchantment for my first wedding-dress-shopping experience. I had actually been to Silk Bridal once before with a girlfriend, and I remember having a very pleasant experience. The bathroom has this painted on the wall: Your Fiance Called and He Said You Can Have Anything You Want.

{Silk Bridal, via their Facebook page}

I had some inspiration pictures from all of my drooling and even did my research on which Allure gowns I wanted to try on. The consultant met with us and and I gave her my guidelines:

• Interesting texture
• No ball gown
• No satin
• No beading

This is a no-picture boutique (boo!) so you’ll have to settle for Allure’s models and my descriptions of the dresses. I find it funny that you can’t take pictures of brides for fear of brides going out and buying them after the fact somewhere cheaper, but we brides have a fantastic memory when it comes to remembering which gowns we tried on…just sayin’. Here are the dresses I tried on that day:

{Allure 8810F*}

The first wedding dress I ever tried on was the 8810F; I will always remember it. *grins* I actually loved this dress—the texture on the bottom was so romantic and frilly. It had the pouf but didn’t feel too ball gowny. I was feeling confident and was only one dress in. Can I get a woop woop?!

{Allure 8806}

The second dress did not disappoint either. It was very similar to the first dress, just not as poufy. The flower detailing was superb, and I was amazed at how small my waist looked and how good my booty looked. So far, so good! Why on earth did I avoid this for so long?!

{Allure 8808}

Dress three was gorgeous, I was really drawn to the structured silhouette of the dress and adored the mixture of the fabrics in the dress.

{Allure 8854F}

My consultant pulled dress 8854F for me “just to try on.” It’s a ball gown, it’s silk, and it’s full-o-beading. Mama Honey loved this dress, but it is very much her style so I wasn’t surprised that she loved it. It was very pretty, and I was shocked that I was looking in the mirror and enjoying it. I felt very bridal, in a very traditional way.

{Allure 8801F}

Dress 8801F was a combination of the ball-gown style with a beaded bodice and the texture I like on the bottom. I just couldn’t decide if it was too much altogether. While I was admiring myself in the mirror in this dress, the other bride across the room was eyeing me. I’m pretty sure she ended up with this dress.

{Allure 8851F}

Another satiny ballgown, pretty similar to the other one I tried on. When comparing the two satin gowns, I like this one a tad better because it was a slimmer silhouette. But again, I was shocked that I was even liking the way these dresses looked.

{Allure 8526F}

I’m not sure if it was this exact one I tried on, but it was at least something similar. Toward the end I was getting tired, overwhelmed, and hot (those things are heavy!), so they all kind of started to blend together. This style is so simple, and I was imagining a big statement-making necklace because it was so plain. I did like the taffeta feeling as well.

{Allure 8751F}

Last but not least, this lacy number. It’s a beautiful dress, and I really liked the scalloped neckline and the deep plunge.

Mama Honey and Honey Aunt demanded requested I try on one in particular again because they knew just as much as I did that it was the one. That means one of these pretties is my dress—squeee!

There I was, at my first bridal appointment, contemplating the purchase of a dress that I LOVED and that was way more than I had planned on spending. It wasn’t out of budget, but it was more than I originally thought I would spend (hello, David’s Bridal $99-gown specials?!).

So, what did we do? We left empty handed and went to Olive Garden for never-ending soup and salad…and beer. I needed a Blue Moon.

Did anyone else find the dress on the first attempt?

*All wedding dress pictures are from Allure Bridals